More Artwork From Benjamin's Art Gallery

More art from Benjamin's Day Care:

A Horse With No Name


A couple of Zoo pictures





Snakes!


Iguana

Book Review: The Way Home by George Pelecanos

The Way Home is another excellent Pelecanos book. The only *bad* thing about a Pelecanos book is I get hooked and finish these in a couple days and I have to wait for the next one ;)

The Way Home is much less violent than past books. It is about the relationship between a father and son and how it is possible to change over time and earn a second chance.

A little tease because I do not want to spoil the book. Chris Flynn and his friend Ben are working for Chris’s father’s carpet business. One day, Chris and Ben come across $50,000 stashed in a gym bag after removing a cut out floor board while installing a carpet in an empty house that’s for sale. They leave it there even though the temptation is to take it. Both have been in trouble before and they met in a juvenile detention center and are trying to go straight. Both figured someone put it there and someone would be back for it eventually and neither of them wanted to get mixed up in someone else's business. One night when drinking, Ben lets the secret out to another ex inmate Lawrence and……

This book found me rooting for the guys to succeed after they were released from the detention center. In this book and in past books, Pelecanos creates these people who resonate with the reader. They are people we feel we know or could know and that’s one of the things that he does that makes his books excellent reads.

A couple places, The Dancing Crab and Mitchell's Sporting Goods Store, were mentioned in The Way Home. I drank at Dancing Crab a lot back in my younger days. You could have called it my second home at times. I used to venture in to Mitchell's when I was a kid to check out gear. One thing I like about his books is how he mentions these places and I feel like I am a part of the story since I've lived in the DC area all my life and frequented some of these places. Just something I like and look forward to when I pick up one of his books.

Caps vs Tampa Bay: Section 121, Row J

Every sports fan should sit as close to the ice as possible for one hockey game. I had an opportunity to sit ten rows behind the Caps bench so I brought my Nikon D40 camera and tested my new zoom lens out. Here are some of the 250 pictures I took.

I still need to really learn how my camera works. Perhaps I'll sign up for some classes and I'll keep my eyes open for some that are offered at local camera stores.

Hockey is a fast sport and it can be tough getting a great shot for amateur photographers such as myself. Throw in my being a fan of the Caps and often I was caught between taking pictures and watching the game. Taking pictures during the warm up was easier and I got some better shots. You can see more detail as players often skate without their helmets and they also work on various parts of their game.

Ten rows up behind the Caps bench is nice but there were a couple obstacles I dealt with. The glass being one of them and I really could only shoot half the rink. Also I was conscious of the person and his family behind me as I didn't want to get in their way of enjoying the game by standing up during the action. As usual, be sure to double click for a larger view of the picture I posted.

It was a very entertaining game in which the Caps won 5-3. Here is the Post recap titled Pothier Delivers for Capitals

First two pictures are Alex Ovechkin during warm ups.




Former Caps


Brooks Laich


Sergei Fedorov


Best player in hockey, period.


Alex Ovechkin faces off against Ryan Craig


Caps goal!


The pesky and quick Martin St. Louis


Keith Aucoin looking to pass or buy a vowel as Pat Sajak (middle) looks on.


Alex the Great 8


Jose Theodore with the save


Ovechkin's 52nd goal makes it 5-3 Caps!


Celebrating Caps!

More Benjamin Pictures

Here is Benjamin solving a jigsaw puzzle. He loves these and it's fun watching him use his skills to piece these together. In this one he didn't ask for help. When I offered, he said "I can do it Daddy".

Random Benjamin Pictures

My little artist


Benjamin at play


New D.C. United jersey


Benjamin after writing his name


More pictures with the new camera. Benjamin's just started to write his name as he got a letter tracer and erasable markers. His class has been working on this at day care. For Christmas we bought him an activity table where he can draw on the top with these markers and tonight he decided to write his name. Here he is very proud of his work.

As for the soccer shirt, I missed D.C. United's annual equipment sale so I called their charity, United for D.C. and they had Benjamin's favorite player's shirt available so I made a donation and D.C. United Goalkeeper Zach Wells' jersey arrived today. Yeah, it's a tad big but a cool souvenir for Benjamin. To recap: We were seated near the goal for the 6/29/08 D.C. United- LA Galaxy game and he became enamored with both goalies but since Zach wore blue, Benjamin's favorite color, Zach became his favorite player. A friend of mine who takes sideline pictures at United matches sent me a couple shots of Zach, which I had him autograph at the Meet the Team day.

Benjamin's interest in soccer took off that day and it was very cool watching games with him as the season progressed. He enrolled in a soccer program at day care this past Fall and we love kicking the ball around, even in the basement. I need to check to see if he can participate in any kids kick arounds this Spring here.

New Camera: Benjamin in Black & White

One of the presents I got for Christmas was a Nikon D40 DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera. The small Nikon Cool Pix camera I bought prior to Benjamin's birth has served me well but it was time to get a bigger and better camera. Tonight I decided to shoot some black and white pictures of Benjamin. Here's one where he is stomping me in a game of Candyland.

I'm still learning about using this camera as you can tell by the dark background in this photo. I can't remember the last time I shot anything in black and white, probably in the mid '70's as a kid when I had a Kodak Instamatic. I'm excited I have this feature and I'll play around with it a bit and post the results here.

One thing I've had to adjust to is this camera doesn't have a live view function. Viewing and focusing is done through the view finder.

A couple references that will be handy is the Nikon D40/D40x/D60 Photog Blog and Nikon D40/D40x Digital Field Guide by David Busch.

Tiger Woods 2009 Video Game

Found this on You Tube and I thought it was pretty funny. Eventually Tiger will pull this off to win a Masters or U.S. Open, LOL! I'm a big time Tiger junkie and he's been out of action two months. Like all golf fans, I really miss watching him compete and hope he recovers fully from his knee surgery. I'm still in awe at what he accomplished at this year's U.S. Open.

2008 American Bald Eagle Coins

I think part of my pay check should go to the United States Mint as each year I find one or two coin sets that interest me (and hopefully Benjamin when he gets older) in addition to my regular orders. This year it is the American Bald Eagle coins (click picture for a larger view) and I received the set I ordered today. These are beautiful coins and are available this year only. I ordered the half dollar and dollar coins.

What I like is a portion from the sale of each coin will be used for a special American Eagle Fund endowment managed by a not-for-profit organization called The American Eagle Foundation (See link below). The coin program could generate over $10 million for the eagle protection cause.

The coins show both natural and historical Bald Eagle images and emblems. The half dollar interested me as the U.S. Mint is targeting this at young collectors. It features the profile of the Bald Eagle Challenger on one side and two baby eaglets in their nest on the opposite side. Challenger is a 19-year-old non-releasable bird cared for by the American Eagle Fund and is internationally known for his spectacular free-flight educational appearances at high-profile sporting events and ceremonies all over the US.

From the Mint's press release, the coins are meant to commemorate:
The recovery and restoration of the American Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle’s importance as "the national symbol of the United States, to
America’s lands, waterways, and skies"

The 35th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act of 1973

A little history from the U.S. Mint's press release as follows:
The Bald Eagle, unique to North America, was designated America’s national emblem by the Founding Fathers on June 20, 1782, at the Second Continental Congress. Once threatened with possible extinction in the lower 48 states, the Bald Eagle was classified as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Because of the success of numerous concerted recovery efforts, the Bald Eagle was removed from the Endangered Species List in 2007.

The American Bald Eagle Recovery & National Emblem Commemorative Coin Act (H.R. 4116) was signed into law by President George W. Bush in December 2004, to celebrate and further aid the recovery of the American Eagle.

If interested in ordering, please check out the U.S. Mint web site

The American Eagle Foundation web site.

I like ordering from the U.S. Mint web site as it is very efficient and I've never had a problem with an order. When you have a large family as we do, their coins make great gifts for young kids.

Book Shopping

It was a good afternoon for a lunchtime walk today, so I headed over to Barnes and Noble in Bethesda when this caught my eye:

This is a collection of stories around various parts of Washington DC. George Pelecanos edited this book (and writes the lead story).This is not a political thriller.

I'm become a big fan of George Pelecanos work, thanks to my friend Dave, who mentioned him during a Recent Books Read discussion that is now almost three years old at Big Soccer


Previews of D.C. Noir from The Washington Post
Book World 1/29/06

Book World 1/15/06

More about George Pelecanos

An excerpt of the Introduction:

So don't expect all the locals to get misty-eyed over monuments, inauguration balls, or care about society sightings inside Style. What might get them emotional is the sight of someone who shares their memories. The ones who remember Riggo breaking that tackle in '83, Len Bias's jersey number, Phil Chenier's baseline jumper, Frank Howard's swing or Doug Williams throwing the ball downfield like God was talking in his ear. The ones who saw Aretha as a child performing with her father onstage at Howard, or Sinatra at the Watergate barge, or Trouble Funk at the old 9:30, or Hendrix at the Ambassador, or Bruce at the Childe Harold. The ones who play Frankie Beverly or EWF at Sunday picnics in Rock Creek Park. The ones who have Backyard Band, Minor Threat, Chuck Brown, William DeVaughn, Shirley Horn and Bad Brains in their record collections. The ones who knew that Elgin Baylor came out of Spingarn, ot that Adrian Dantley and Brian Westbrook were DeMatha Stags. The ones who hear the voice of Bobby "The Mighty Burner" Bennett on the radio and can't help but grin. The ones who bleed Burgundy and Gold. The ones who will claim that they know your distant cousin, or tell you they like the looks of your car, or if it needs to be replaced, mention that it's a hooptie. Or the woman at the Safeway who hands you your receipt and tells you to "have a blessed day." Or the matriarch on your street with the prunish, beautiful face who raised six sons and now lords over a house holding many of their children. It's about the collective memories of the locals, and also about the voices. If you close your eyes and listen to the people of this city, you will hear the many different voices, and if you've lived here long enough, the cadences and rhythms, the familiarity of it, the feeling that you are home, will make you smile.